Is it too late for me?

College Search & Selection
#1

<p>First, I guess I should introduce myself; my name is David, I'm a professional gamer and student at Community College, and a Google search brought me here. I'm not sure what these boards are for to be quite honest, but I have a burning question (or rather a series of questions) that I feel I must ask, so please lend an eye if you will. This may read somewhat like a cheesy (and very abbreviated) autobiography, and for that I apologize; this is merely because to tell the whole story I need to start from the beginning. </p>

<p>As an Elementary School and Middle School student, I excelled. I was in the 99th percentile in every standardized test I took, had perfect grades on everything I did, and was at the top of my school academically. Things were going well. However, when High School hit, things completely fell apart. I turned from a straight-A student to a C-average student, I didn't care about school, and had some bad things going on in my life. High school was a wreck and my life was very much off-track. At the end of my high school career, I got mediocre SAT scores: 730 on Critical Reading, 700 on Writing, and an abysmal 620 in math, due in no small part to my only having taken one math course at the time of taking the SAT tests. </p>

<p>I was unable to get into a good college (I felt so dejected that I only applied to one single college, which denied my application) and took a break from school to clear my head out. I had a breakthrough and was able to push all of the negative factors out of my life and vowed to get back on the track to success; I enrolled in Community College and am holding a 4.0 gpa quite easily, and managing my career as a somewhat successful competitive professional gamer in the meantime. </p>

<p>Recently, I was thinking back on my early life. What went wrong? I was on a path to success and I let it all fall apart. So be it. But something deep inside of me wants to be that person again. I enjoy school again and I want to go to a good school. I will finish Community College with a 4.0 gpa of course and I will transfer, and my question is this; do I have any reasonable hope of getting into a very good school, such as an Ivy League school? I don't mean to sound conceited, but I am quite certain that if I was accepted, I would not struggle at all. Do they even accept transfer applications? My real question is, where do I go from here? If feels as though in the past I dug myself into a hole that I cannot crawl out of, and I am doomed to mediocrity. Someone please give me some advice.</p>

#2

<p>Try this forum;</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

#3

<p>I'm certainly no expert on Transfer admissions, but it is certainly possible to transfer out of community college into very good, and even Ivy-level schools. I think the forum Shrinkrap indicated would definitely be helpful for you.</p>

#4

<p>I remember one of my high school teachers telling us how he had gone to a community college for two years and then transferred into U. Penn, so I guess it would be possible for you to go to an ivy if you're lucky enough.</p>

<p>What are you interested in studying? I imagine large state schools are a bit more receptive to CC transfers than smaller private schools, and there's no shortage of fantastic state schools out there.</p>

#5

<p>I have read that Ivies are more likely to take CC graduates than transfers from other four year schools, so go for it. Also look at top non-Ivy schools. You will get into good schools, for sure.</p>

#6

<p>I plan to study business, I want to get a Ph.D...my father recently lost his job of 26 years and started a new business, and I want to help him run it one day, so this is what impacted my decision about my course of study. I also would like to learn fluent Korean. So it would be possible to transfer to an Ivy? What could I start doing now to increase my chances?</p>

#7

<p>If you're planning on running a business started by your family, you might not necessarily need a PhD. Unless it's a fundamental research company and you'll be the head of an R&D department or something, you might be better off getting some sort of MBA or something like that.</p>

#8

<p>Family business =/= my business...I plan to run an international marketing business with ties to Korea, those are my main plans and I simply want a Ph.D. The family business will be something I will do on the side, and despite being "the family business", it is not small.</p>

#9

<p>I highly suggest you look at the forum Shrinkrap suggested, specifically this thread: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/465387-success-stories-bad-hs-record-w-great-college-record.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/transfer-students/465387-success-stories-bad-hs-record-w-great-college-record.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

#10

<p>You definitely don't lack intelligence, as evidenced by your SAT scores, which are nowhere near mediocre (your overall combined is better than mine currently).</p>

<p>You're most certainly not doomed to mediocrity. I'm no expert on transferring from community college, the standards and such, but I'm sure you could transfer into a quality university.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

#11

<p>I read somewhere that you need at LEAST 2200 to get into an ivy league school, and my combined SAT score was 2050...so would they merely toss out my application?</p>

#12

<p>
[quote]
I read somewhere that you need at LEAST 2200 to get into an ivy league school, and my combined SAT score was 2050...so would they merely toss out my application?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>That's nowhere near true. The middle 50% SAT range for applicants accepted to Cornell is from 1280-1490. Having a good SAT score is very helpful, but if you have good grades, ECs, and other things pulling for you, lower than usual SAT scores can mean nothing.</p>

<p>Besides, you don't necessarily have to transfer into an Ivy or Ivy-caliber institution.</p>

#13

<p>Yea, but I really want to and will do whatever I can to make it happen.</p>

#14

<p>I'm sure you could pull out of your Community College because you HAVE had struggles in your life and you're trying to overcome them. I think you should probably write about your struggles in an essay that you will send along with your other app. materials. Probably...you won't get into an Ivy league. Try to transfer out to a less prestigious school that has a good curiculum and then maybe try for the Ivies for graduate school if you think you can make it.</p>

#15

<p>What are the best "Non-Ivy" schools?</p>

#16

<p>Some really good non-Ivies are U of Chicago, Washington U in St. Louis, Rice, U of Rochester, Duke (a pseudo-Ivy at this point), MIT, Caltech, Stanford obviously, Vanderbilt, Emory, Johns Hopkins, U of Michigan, UNC, UVA, Berkeley, UCLA. I notice that you are from Maryland. U Maryland is not bad- apply.</p>

#17
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